Jo Gullett
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Jo Gullett AM, MC |
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| Member of the Australian Parliament for Henty |
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In office 30 March 1946 – 4 November 1955 |
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| Preceded by | Arthur Coles |
| Succeeded by | Max Fox |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 December 1914 |
| Died | 24 August 1999 (aged 84) |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party | Liberal Party of Australia |
| Alma mater | Oxford University |
| Occupation | Journalist, soldier |
Henry Baynton Somer 'Jo' Gullett AM MC, (16 December 1914 – 24 August 1999) was an Australian soldier, politician, diplomat and journalist. He served with distinction in the Australian Army during World War II, was a controversial Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives for the Division of Henty from 1946 to 1955, and served as Ambassador to Greece during 'the time of the Colonels' from 1965 to 1968.
He was the son of former Cabinet Minister Sir Henry Somer Gullett, the grandson of author Barbara Baynton and an uncle of actor Penne Hackforth-Jones.
He is the author of two memoirs, one of which, Not as a Duty Only: an Infantryman's War is widely considered to be a classic in Australian war writing.
Gullett spent much of his early childhood in Canberra, at Hill Station (now an upmarket restaurant) in what is now the industrial suburb of Hume. The plains of the Tuggeranong Valley allowed him to develop a passion for horseriding, and he became a very keen horseman.
In his later youth he spent a year at the Sorbonne and then at Oxford, where took a BA degree. In 1935 he commenced work as a journalist at Melbourne's Herald newspaper, where he stayed for the next four years.
He enlisted in the Army upon the outbreak of war in 1939, initially as a private. Much of his service was with the 2/6th Australian Infantry Battalion of the 6th Division of the Australian Imperial Force. As a Sergeant, he was seriously wounded in the Battle of Bardia on 3 January 1941. He is the central character in an Ivor Hele painting of the battle which has hung in the Australian War Memorial since the 1960s.
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